Clutch



Feb. s, 1929. v 1,700,860"

L. K. $NELL CLUTCH Original Filed Feb. 26 21 INVENTOR. LYLE K. SNELL 1-51% Ti I 'ATTO EY-I Patented Feb. 5, 1929.

ll i l l T E muses FATEN FFlCl'l,

LYLE K. SNELL, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSKGNOR TO YVILLYS-OVERLAND GOM- PAITY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A OQB'POBATION OHIO.

CLUTCH.

Griginal application filed February 26, 1921, Serial No.

Divided end this application filed February 11, 1926. fierial No. 87,479.

I U cts of the ii'l\llll0ll to provide a clutct the disc type in which the Another oh' -t vidc :1 d sc clutch is small.

A further object of the invention is to pro ride a disc clutch with friction rings having di lerent effective diameters,

@ther objects, and objects relating): to tetoiis of construction and economies oi meme lecture will appear as I proceed with the descri ption of that embodiment of the invention which, for the purposes ofthe present opplicutioiu I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

l igure l is a control, longitudinal section through e. clutch and related parts showing the position of the friction rings of the improved clutch.

Fig. H is a. front elevation ot a pair of the friction rings shown in Fig. T, the rings being (i-"ranged concentrically so as to illustrelie their relative position in the assembled clutclpi.

Referring: to the di'znviiugs, in' which like reference characters rotor to similar parts throughout the views, lllllitfitlOS u. power slurltivhich may he the crzin lzsliult of on internal. combustion engine. This power shutt curries :1. plate ll to which is bolted 2i, llywlmel 12. An annular flange 13 upon the llvwheel constitutes the side or peripheral wall of a. clutch c: up; of which one end wall is ihe flywheel while the other end well consists oi a cover l l open iii the middle and removubly ecured to the llzinu'e l3 by means of machine screws A driven shaft 16 is aligned with the driving shaft 10 as nearly as may be, the inner end of the shaft 16 being reduced and mounted in a bell bearing" 1'? located in the center of the flywheel. 16 carries 2. hub

tion to proin which the overall length The short 18, there being a splined connection betwee the two parts to permit sliding of the hub upon the shaft. This hub merges into a spider 19, at the rim of which is the driven plate 20 of the clutch, The portion of the flywheel lying opposite this plate constitutes one of the driving plates of the clutch. The other driving plate 22 is movuble toward and swoyfrom the plates 20 and 2L and is prevented from rotational movement with respect to plate 21, by pins .13 which are set into the flywheel and which are sliduble in slots ll l across the periphery of the plate 22.

The rear face o't plete incl ned as shown clearly in the drawings. This "hire is engaged by com surfaces 25 upon the levers 96, which are pivoted at 27 to projecting inwardly from o ring; 28 mounted upon the iner side of the cover 14 by means of screws 29, tively long; and their inner ends extend into it groove 30 upon the outer side of s cupshsped element 3i which is normally urged inwardly by a heavy coil spring- 32, and which may be retracted by means of a sleeve 33 surrounding the shaft 16, and extending; into the cup-shaped element 31. A collar 34. is threaded upon the end of the sleeve 38 and bears against the element 31 to retract the some when the sleeve 33 is moved backward, or toward the left in Fig. I. This movement of sleeve 33 toward the left is accomplished in any known manner, preferably by the operation of a foot pedal, not shown.

In clutches of the type illustrated it has been custon'uu'y to employ av single friction ring usually of asbestos fiber, upon each side of the control clutch plate 20. If these rings are permitted to move iudepemlently, tour sets of friction surfaces are thus provided for each clutch. This number of surfaces is not sullicicnt to insure smooth engagement howeven and I propose to increase the number of friction surfaces without increasing the number of movable plates, inching some of the surfaces of a. larger diameter than others so that :1- given pressiu'e will result in a g t-ester torque being; delivered by the larger surf-(ices In Fig. l, I have shown two t'rictitm rings 35 and 36 on each side of the central clutch plate 20. The two rings of a pair lie in the same plane and if desired one ring, preferably the outer, may be purposely slightly thicker than the other. Although I have only shown two pairs of rings 35 and 36, at larger number may be employed if desired.

It is well known that the holding power of clutches of the type illustrated is dependcnt on the friction and the distance of the lclaim:

friction surface from the clutch axis. This being true it may be readily seen that with rings of equal thickness the outer rings will assume the load sligl ;l in advance of the inner rings 36 and that I the outer rings be of slightly greater thickness the effect will be increased. T he progressive action of the rings and 36 in assu ring their share of the load produces a much smoother clutch action than that produced by the use of single rings and the positioning of the rings of GLJll pair in the same plane reduces the length as compared vith an ordinary clutch using the same number of fr ction rings.

ll hile my inve n contemplates the use of rings 35 and 36 o. "lightly different thicl ness, I prefer to cuthoth rings of the same stock as this will be found to produce a sufficient amount of ag between the full engage ment of the respective rings.

1 am aware that the particular embodiments of my invention herein shown and described are susceptible of considerable variation without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore i desire to claim the invention broadly as well as specifi- Cally, as indicated in the appended claims.

1. In a. clutch, relatively movable driving and driven plates, and a plurality of concentric friction rings interposed between said plates, said rin s being rotatably movable independently or each other.

2. In a clutch relatively movable driving and driven plates, and a plurality of uninterrupted concentric friction rings interposed between said plates, said rings being rotatably movable indqiendently of each other and of the said driving and driven plates.

3. In a clutch, relatively movable driving and driven plates, and a plurality of flat friction rings interposed between said plates, certain of said rings having a substantially greater dian'ieter than certain others of said rings and said larger rings being independently retatably movable with respect to said smaller rings.

4. in a clutch, relatively movable driving and driven. plates, f iction rings interposed between said plates said friction rings being arranged in sets. and each of said sets co'nsisting of a plurality of concentric rings disposed in substantially the same plane.

in testin'iony whereof, ll ailix my si nature.

LYLE K. SNELL. 

